108 CYNODON. [class III. order ii. 



Root with strong fibres and creeping vndo-fjronnd stems. Plant 

 somewhat tufted, tough, and rigid. Stem erect, from one to two feet 

 high, simple, round, smooth, clothed with leaves to the top, the base 

 surrounded with numerous withered siieaths. Leaves short, rigid, stri- 

 ated, smooth, tapering to the point, the margins closely rolled inwards. 

 Sheaths close, smooth, striated, long. Liyula short, torn. InJJorescence 

 an erect, compound, one-sided spike; nu7iK'; angular, smooth, with a 

 furrow for each spikelet. Spikelets in two lateral rows. Glumes une- 

 qual, lanceolate, more or less downy : the outer shortest, narrow, with 

 an acute point, and keeled ; inner w;th a strong keel, the margins 

 membranous, tapering at the point, sometimes cloven, having between 

 the lobes a short rigid awn, the termination of the keel. Florets single. 

 Glumelles two, lanceolate, more or less membranous, both keeled, and 

 less downy than the glumes. Ghtmellula wanting. Stijles united 

 together about three-fourths of their length. Stir/mas slender, feathery. 

 Fruit oblong, enclosed in the unaltered glumelles. 



Habitat.— Salt marshes on the east and south-east coast of England, 

 not common. 



Perennial ; flowering in August. 



GENUS LIII. CYN'ODON. Rich. Docfs-tooth-grass. 



Gen. Char. Inflorescence a compound spike. Spihelets one-sided, 

 in two or more rows. Glumes two, nearly equal, keeled, spreading. 

 Florets one-flowered. Glumelles shorter than the glumes, awn- 

 less, compressed, keeled; the ontn- valve broadest, enwrapping 

 the shorter inner one, becoming hard and forming a coat to the 

 ovate seed. — Name from xwwv, a do(j, and oJouj, a tooth. 



1 . C. Dac'tylon, Pers. (Fig. 206.) creeping Dog's-tooth-grass. Spikes 

 from three to five together; glumelles smooth, external one some- 

 what ciliated, internal with a bristle at its base. 



English Flora, vol. i. p. 95. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 298. — Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 58.— Sinclair, Ilort. Gram. Wobnrn. p. 290. — 

 Pan'icum Dac'tylon, Linn. English Botany, t. 850. 



Root long, fibrous, branched, with numerous hard, branched under- 

 ground ste7ni. Stems long, prostrate, numerously branched and mat- 

 ted, and frequently sending out roots from the numerous joints ; 

 branches very leafy, and copiously clothed around their base with 

 sheath and decayed leaves ; Jloirrring stems at length ascending leafy 

 to the top, and terminating in from three to live straight, spreading, 

 rigid spikes. Leaves short, tapering to the point, slightly liairy, and 

 glaucous. Sheaths long, striated, smooth, upper ones terminating in 

 a bristle-shaped leaf, or frequently without. Ligula hairy. Spikes 

 linear : the florets arranged in two or more close alternate rows, nearly 



